"They will only open even wider", Xi said at the annual Baoao Forum for Asia.

In recent weeks relations between China and the United States have been overshadowed by the tensions in the sphere of trade.

The Chinese are big consumers of US soybeans and pork, Graham said: "They've got 1.2 billion people to feed". But he stressed the need for tackling problems through dialogue rather than confrontation, warning against adopting a "Cold War mentality". "I'm not sure who the United States is putting on this act for". The U.S. reported a $375 billion deficit with China a year ago, which Trump has blamed for the loss of American jobs and closing of plants.

Chinese officials have been promising since at least 2013 to ease restrictions on foreign joint ventures in the auto industry, which would allow foreign firms to take a majority stake.

They now are limited to a 50% stake in joint ventures, and are not allowed to establish wholly owned factories.

Tesla's Chief Executive Elon Musk has railed against an unequal playing field in China and wants to retain full ownership over a manufacturing facility the company is in talks to build there.

Dealers pounced on the comments as a sign that a possible trade war between the world's top two superpowers can be averted.

The US leader said he was faced with a choice: either cut a deal with China to back away from his plan for punitive tariffs on US$150 billion worth of imports or come up with measures that will offset losses tied to retaliatory import taxes Beijing has put on US agricultural products.

Zhou Wenzhong, a Baoao Forum official, said at the weekend that "protectionism will lead nowhere" and the Trump administration gave "the wrong prescription" for the U.S. economy's problems, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. They say that depends on tariff negotiations with the Trump administration.

"Our farming community is on the front lines, but we've got to stick with it", the senator said.

China retaliated the next day with a proposed 25 percent tariff of its own.

China is evaluating the potential impact of a gradual yuan depreciation as a tool in the trade dispute, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, though it said the analysis doesn't mean officials will carry out the move.

Xi promised to cut auto import taxes, open China's markets further and improve conditions for foreign companies in a speech Tuesday that called for global cooperation against a backdrop of a spiraling dispute with Washington over trade and technology.

But Trump administration officials have stressed that the tariffs are not yet in place and the dispute could be resolved through talks.

China has pledged to "counterattack with great strength" if Trump decides to follow through on his latest threat to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods - after an earlier announcement that targeted $50 billion. None of the announced duties have been implemented yet, offering room for negotiation.

Business groups mostly agree that something needs to be done about China's aggressive push in technology, but they worry that China will retaliate by targeting US exports of aircraft, soybeans and other products and start a tit-for-tat trade war of escalating sanctions between the world's two biggest economies.

China threatened retaliation, and Wall Street cringed, recording one of the biggest drops of Trump's presidency.

Popular news

National Guard members begin arriving at US-Mexico border
Trump said last week that he would be sending up to 4,000 troops to the southern border until his proposed border wall was built. Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas all made new pledges that add up to nearly half of the up to 4,000 troops Trump requested.Tuesday, April 10, 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un comments on U.S. dialogue
South Korea has been keen to lower tensions on the peninsula and some fear that it could bend to Pyongyang's demands. That means it wants to see "complete, verifiable, and irreversible" denuclearisation - a very high bar.Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Facebook to make 'unsend' feature available to all soon
Some see this as a sort of cover-up where Facebook can say it was testing a feature and that it will now be given to all users. He has said he "absolutely" believes AggregateIQ drew on Cambridge Analytica's databases for its work on the Brexit campaign.Monday, April 09, 2018